Finally, a Woods-Mickelson rivalry is taking shape
By Melanie Hauser, PGATOUR.COM Correspondent
One is playing the best golf of his career.
The other is simply the best player in the world.
And no matter how much we try to meddle with this mix, no matter how we try to tweak the reality, no matter how much we want to see Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods go head-to-head at every tournament, we can't create a great rivalry between two of the game's all-time great players. It's got to happen. And we've got a feeling it just might in 2010.
We're not going all Johnny Miller here. No reason to try to get things all stirred up. No reason to poke one or prod the other. No need to name a player of the year 13 months early.
We're merely here to point out that Mickelson does indeed have our attention. Woods always has.
Whenever it's come down to finishing things off, Woods has had the edge. Not in every tournament, mind you, because he's lost his share -- especially this year -- but in overall seasons, hands down. Twice in the last 11 years the door has been open for someone other than Woods to win the PGA TOUR's Player of the Year award. Vijay Singh stepped up in 2004; Padraig Harrington in 2008. Both times Woods was either rebuilding his swing or his knee.
This year? You've got to say Mickelson closed fast. We didn't see it coming. Not after Amy and his mother, Mary, were diagnosed with breast cancer in May. Not when he made the choice to step back and see them through the surgeries and the early stages of the remainder of the battle. Not when he -- understandably so, considering the emotions of the year -- all but walked through the PGA Championship.
The 12th hole cost him the Masters. Two bogeys down the stretch gave him another silver runner-up medal at the U.S. Open instead of the trophy he wanted to take home to Amy. That would have been a wonderful story, but when it didn't happen, we got to thinking we might not see Mickelson again for a while.
And Woods? He was back in the groove, sort of. He was winning everywhere after coming back from major knee surgery. Everywhere but the majors.
A share of sixth at the Masters and the U.S. Open. A missed cut at the Open Championship. A dagger in his heart at the PGA Championship. It's not what he's come to expect, but then you consider he still won six times in what he's looking at as a learn-from season. Aren't they all?
He's already thinking grand slam in 2010, which is why he's Woods. Why he just keeps pushing that bar higher and higher.
Mickelson keeps chasing it. But what we saw at the end of the year was a different Mickelson -- one who didn't just close out his last two tournaments. He slammed them shut, which is why we're wondering if we might be in for one heck of a season next year.
Seeing Woods and Mickelson each holding trophies on the 18th green at East Lake got us thinking pretty seriously. After all, Woods could have run the table there, but Mickelson stepped up and grabbed THE TOUR Championship presented by Coca-Cola, while Woods picked up his second FedExCup.
At The Presidents Cup, they both stepped up and led. Woods went 5-0-0; Mickelson went 4-0-1 while playing with three different partners. Clutch. And then at the World Golf Championships-HSBC Champions, Mickelson blew past Woods in the final round for his fourth win of the year.
Mickelson wasn't just playing out the year, he was picking himself up. Butch Harmon was already spiffing up Phil's swing, so after the PGA he turned to Dave Stockton for a couple of hours to straighten out his putter. It worked.
Mickelson closed the season with wins in two of his last three events and has everyone wondering if the serious roller-coaster days are over. If the master of the lob wedge, the magician who makes big things out of nothing, could be trading up to consistency.
And if he does? Well, let's just say Woods won't be standing still. His putter let him down more often than his driver this season and he's already working to change both. Down time means scheduling workouts between son Charlie's diaper changes and keeping up with daughter Sam, his mile-a-minute 2-year-old. No one is going to outwork him.
We'll open the season with an eye on two numbers -- 72 and 18. Woods needs two wins to tie Jack Nicklaus for second on the all-time wins list and head toward Sam Snead's record of 82 (then Kathy Whitworth's 88). He needs four majors to tie Nicklaus' all-time record of 18.
Instead of putting it all down as he usually does, though, expect Mickelson to find more time in the offseason to visit with Harmon and Stockton. And as Amy and Mary continue to improve, that will sharpen his focus, too.
Woods hasn't had someone pushing him in a decade. He's done just fine pushing himself, mind you, but wouldn't it be great to see Mickelson there, too?
When Woods and Mickelson play together, Woods has the edge -- 11-10-4. That just may be the closest anyone has gotten to Woods in any category.
Now you see what we're talking about.
We can't wait for the first face-off. And the first major.
Melanie Hauser is a freelance columnist for PGATOUR.COM. Her views do not necessarily represent the views of the PGA TOUR.
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